Aaron and Emily: Painless
by LacytheRomanWerewolf
Summary: Aaron and Emily get to experience the tougher side of parenting when they find out Jack's having trouble with a classmate, even if the little boy denies it. HP


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Lacy here kids with the next A&E. First, *squeals* that plane scene at the end with Aaron and Emily had me giggling like an idiot. And the Jack and Aaron scene had me crying. No freakin' clue why, I just burst into tears. But the Hotchner boys do that to me. Damn them for being so cute. I will be keeping both scenes, along with the school scene at the beginning. Em's not going to be as calm about the bullying thing as Aaron but that's cause she's pregnant. Hormones kids. Gotta love 'em. Alright, have fun!

Disclaimer: I own Bethany, Mallory and the new baby!

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~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

Emily ran a soothing hand over her stomach, willing her baby to stop messing with her stomach so she could finish getting ready for work and the meeting with Jack's teacher.

"Still feeling sick?" Aaron asked as he came in. He sat beside Emily where she was reclined on their bed and took over rubbing her stomach.

Emily leaned her head on Aaron's shoulder. "It's passing, thankfully." she sighed. "I swear this little one is worse then Beth was with the morning sickness."

Aaron laughed. "Well you only have a couple more weeks left before it should pass. But," he leaned down and kissed her stomach. "Hey, be nice to Mommy."

Emily smiled. "I don't think the baby can hear you yet."

They sat in silence for a few more minutes, Emily focusing on Aaron soothingly rubbing her stomach before he looked at her again.

"Ready?" he asked.

Emily nodded. "Yeah, I just need five minutes to finish getting ready."

Aaron kissed her. "Alright, I'll go make sure Beth's ready. Jess already came and took Jack to school."

Emily pushed herself off the bed as Aaron left the room. Placing a hand on her stomach, she looked down at the slight swell.

"Alright kiddo," she said softly. "round two."

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

Aaron watched Emily's face as they stood in the elevator heading to the BAU floor. He could tell his wife was angry, furious even and knew a good majority of that anger was hormonal, not that he'd say that out loud, but he also knew a good part of it was finding out that a boy they'd had over their house, someone they thought was Jack's friend, was actually bullying him at school. Emily's maternal instincts had kicked in and the last time that happened, Morgan got a fist to the stomach. Aaron just hoped that Emily remembered she couldn't actually hit a six year old for being mean to their son. It was just a bit frowned upon.

"Emily," he said carefully.

"We let him into our home, Aaron." Emily all but growled. "And he thinks he can pick on Jack. No one picks on our little boy."

Aaron sighed. Wow, this was going to take some doing. "Em, he's six. Obviously he wasn't taught that it's wrong to pick on other kids. But the school is making sure it doesn't get out of hand and if Jack didn't mention it then clearly he doesn't think it's a big problem because he knows he can talk to us about anything."

Emily exhaled sharply and set a hand on her stomach. "Okay baby, time to stop messing with Mommy's emotions."

Aaron laughed. "Em, don't blame it all on the baby. You socked Morgan for bringing Jack up during a case and I know you weren't pregnant then."

Emily gave her best innocent face. "I'm sorry Aaron, I can't seem to recall what you're talking about."

Aaron snorted. "Let's hope Bethany gets my poker face or she'll never be able to keep a secret."

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

"He's like you,"

Aaron looked at Emily as the team flew home. "Who is?"

Emily leaned back in her seat across from Aaron. "Jack. He wants to solve this Paul thing himself, just like you would. That's why we had to find out from his teacher and not from him." she sighed. "And we have to let him work it out. But,"

Aaron nodded. "It's not easy. He's the oldest, the first one we're going through this with and we don't know what to do."

"Exactly." Emily agreed. "We want to hold on tight and protect him from everything but we can't. We have to let him grow up." she exhaled, though it sounded like a groan. "Being a parent sucks."

Aaron laughed. "Only sometimes, Em. Only sometimes."

Emily gave him a look. "You're just saying that because you don't have to carry the kids. Just help raise them."

Aaron went to open his mouth but Dave's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Pregnant, hormonal, carrying a gun. Agree."

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

Aaron carefully lit the small candle in its holder before handing it to Jack, who was sitting under his covers with a pillow supporting him.

"Why are we doing this?" Jack asked. He'd been having fun playing with Bethany.

Aaron regarded his son carefully. "We haven't talked to Mom in a while so I thought it would be a good idea if we did it again."

"But I don't wanna make you sad." Jack admitted.

Aaron had to smile softly. "Buddy, you're not making me sad. It makes me happy because it reminds me what a great job Mom did with you. So maybe if we got into the habit of doing this again, you know Mom could help us."

Jack looked at the candle for a moment before looking back at his father. "Like with what?"

Aaron shrugged. "You know, if you had a bad day." he decided to stop dancing around the subject. Jack was too smart for that. "Ms. McKee said Paul's been mean to you."

Jack shook his head. "He hasn't been mean to me."

"No?" Aaron asked. Jack shook his head again. Aaron gave a small nod. "Okay. Well Mom will look out for Jack anyway."

"Dad too." Jack said.

Aaron readily agreed. "Oh yeah, Dad too. Of course."

"And Mommy and Annie." Jack said. "And the baby."

Aaron smiled. "Exactly. Mom looks out for all of us."

Jack started blowing, trying to get the candle to go out and eventually leaned forward for a better angle. Once the candle was out, Aaron placed it on the night stand.

"Okay, time to settle down." he removed the pillow from behind Jack and set it on the floor next to the bed. Jack scooted down and let Aaron cover him up. Aaron shut the light off and kissed Jack on the forehead. "Goodnight Buddy."

"Love you Dad," Jack said.

Aaron turned as he got to the door and smiled at his son. "I love you too." he turned off the overhead light and shut the door. Leaning against the door frame, he took a minute before following the sounds of Emily and Bethany's voices to the little girl's room. "Hey, I thought someone was going to sleep."

Emily smiled from the rocking chair where she was reading to Bethany. "She wanted Daddy to put her to bed."

Bethany reached for her father. "Daddy!"

Aaron smiled and picked Bethany up. "Hey sweetie," he kissed her cheek. "You want me, huh?" he sent Emily a smirk before returning his attention to Bethany. "I know, I'm so much better at bed time then Mommy is."

"Hey!" Emily swatted Aaron's free side with the book. "Watch it or you're bunking with Jack."

Aaron laughed as he covered Bethany and kissed her forehead like he had Jack's. "Goodnight sweetie."

Bethany yawned and hugged her teddy. "Wuv Daddy."

Aaron smiled. "I love you too."

Emily said her own goodnights and love yous before flicking on the nightlight and following Aaron from the room. Collapsing on their bed, they held each other close, both with a hand over their newest addition.

"How'd it go?" Emily asked softly.

Aaron sighed. "He says Paul's not being mean and I think you're right. He wants to handle this himself."

Emily curled into Aaron's side. "Stubborn, just like his dad."

Aaron snorted. "Yeah well, Beth gets it from you."

Emily laughed. "Here's hoping the baby doesn't get it from both of us or we're in trouble." she sighed as Aaron started stroking her hair. "I love you, Aaron."

Aaron shut his eyes and smiled once more. "I love you too, Em." he ran his fingers over the baby. "And you too, baby."

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

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Damn, the family fluff in that ending was...I reached a new personal best with that. Nice! Okay kids, made myself cry again writing the Jack and Aaron scene but I find it well worth it. Let me know what you think, flame policy stands and thanks for reading.

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